Heartfelt, passionate and slick—an essential hip-hop book.
Hip-hop’s renaissance man drops a classic.
Lyricist, producer, business mogul and self-proclaimed hustler Jay-Z has all but dominated the rap scene since his 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt. During the last decade-plus, his singles have not only owned the urban airwaves, but have crossed over into the mainstream. This book provides a two-pronged attack, in which narrative chapters alternate with in-depth explanations of the lyrics to his favorite compositions. Not formatted in chronological fashion, Jay-Z’s stories ramble pleasantly from one topic to the next, including his difficult childhood in the projects, his road to creative fulfillment, his encounters with A-list celebrities and public figures and how he deals with the ins and outs of the record industry. Hardcore hip-hop heads will be drawn in by Jay-Z’s obvious love, respect and knowledge of his chosen genre. In fact, his incisive reminiscences of the lives and/or music of Run-DMC, Big Daddy Kane, the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur are alone worth the price of admission. Though engaging, his meticulous dissections of his lyrics could be off-putting to the casual fan, but that’s mitigated by the fact that his complex personality shines through every page. One minute, he’s boasting as if he’s in the midst of a rap battle with his pal Eminem, and the next he’s chiding himself for a minor musical, personal or business transgression. The book is creatively designed, filled with pull quotes, sidebars and photographs. Ardent Jay-Z followers may be disappointed by the lack of gossip—there’s no mention of his infamous battle with fellow New York rapper Nas; the specifics of his thug life are thin; and there’s nary a word about his wife, Beyonce—but the sharpness of his social observations and his palpable adoration for all that is hip-hop make this a must-have title for all pop-culture aficionados.
Heartfelt, passionate and slick—an essential hip-hop book.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4000-6892-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2010
PERSPECTIVES
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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